Global Voices » Finland

Russia: Foreign Ministry Critique of Human Rights Violations

Vilhelm Konnander — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:04:32 +0000

Finrosforum argues against a report from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which criticizes neighbouring countries for human rights violations.

Video: Plural+ 2011 Awards Young Filmmakers

Juliana Rincón Parra — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:17:36 +0000

Youth from around the globe were awarded in New York for their thought-provoking short films showing their proposals for making society more peaceful and multicultural by addressing the topics of diversity, migration and social inclusion.

Multicolor handprints on white cloth. Image by Flickr user John-Morgan (CC BY 2.0).

The Plural + Youth Video Festival set out to recognize youth as powerful agents of social change; in the Awards Ceremony they commended young filmmakers for their winning efforts.

Let's see some of the winning videos: GIFT was created by Pang Jia Wei, Ryan Tan Chuan Min and the Tunku Abdul Rahman College in Malaysia and the video won in the 18-25 year old category. In it, we can see and hear how it takes diversity to build a nation.

The New Portuguese is a short documentary on immigrants in Portugal: whether they are immigrating to the capital city of Lisbon from their hometowns or whether their parents moved to Portugal where they were born, they all struggle for acceptance and a place in the city and country they call home.

Wish is a short film about families in China. It tells the story of a boy living with his grandfather while his parents work in a far away city, and how doing what is economically best for a child may turn out to be more challenging than planned.

I am Quiaqueña is the musing of a young woman born in the border between Argentina and Bolivia, and how belonging somewhere is not as easy when geography and politics get in the way.

Having many similarities may not be enough when there is a difference that is considered greater… that is the case of Between Us Two, from Israel.

Our Hood has the Wafalme Crew, a musical group composed of street kids who live in the ghettos of Nairobi, Kenya sing and tell the story of how music changed their lives for the better, teaching them about how to rise up to challenges and keep a positive outlook in life.

A young man writes to his father who has spent his whole life working far away from his home in Exile Song, reminding him that when he wishes to hear the thrushes and see the palm trees… all he has to do is come back home.

In Belong, different immigrants in Finland discuss their experience in living away from their homelands, and what are the things that make them feel that they belong in their new home.

You can see the other winning videos on the Plural + Youth Video Award Page.

Macedonia: Euphoria After Basketball Victory Over Greece

Filip Stojanovski — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:44:39 +0000

Celebrations erupted among Macedonians worldwide after the national team beat Greece at the European Basketball Championship of 2011 - EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania - the first such victory ever in the history of international sport.

The victory for the Macedonian national team with 72:58 at EuroBasket 2011 was a big surprise, since the Greek national team “is considered among the world's top basketball powers; they were runners-up in the 2006 FIBA World Championship and they have won the European Championship twice, in 1987 and 2005,” according to Wikipedia.

Soon after the game ended early Satuday evening, the jubilant flag-waving fans filled the public spaces of Macedonian cities and towns. Sport!Denes (Sport!Today) published a photo gallery [mk] from the main square in Skopje.

A Croatian media outlet 24 sata (24 hours) reported [hr] immediately after the match:

The story of the day is the Macedonian win over their southern neighbors, whose [political pressure] forces them to use the designation “Former Yugoslav Republic of” in front of their name. Even though the players do not want to talk politics, they claim this is the dearest victory of their careers.

- “It's crazy now in Skopje and the whole Macedonia, everybody goes to the main square to celebrate this” - Todor Gečevski said, while Pero Antić added:

- “We shall celebrate Independence Day on September 8, and they might build another monument for us on account of this.”

The best player of the game for Macedonia was African-American Bo McCalleb. Specialized basketball blog NBA Macedonia declared [mk] that he's “The Greatest Macedonian.” *

A screenshot from MakNBA blog featuring Bo McCalleb.

Twitter (the main hashtag: #makbasket) and Facebook buzzed with comments. Many Macedonian social media users expressed joy with dignity, while others used triumphant nationalist “in your face, Greece” rhetoric.

Right after the game, Azder wrote [mk]:

#makbasket should be celebrated with going to a town square. Please suggest a square with space for people, instead of statues.

Davorvori9, who changed his profile photo to one with Bo McCalleb, wrote [mk] a few hours later:

I can't remember when I was so euphoric and happy, possibly never. Thank you for this, guys! #makbasket

Roberto Belicanec wrote on Facebook (reprinted with permission):

YEAAH ! We won! Hm - let me explain something to you. Five athletes won over five other athletes while you where turning beer into the piss. - Bill Maher!
But still, this is quite nice :)

And Ivica Anteski retorted (also reprinted with permission):

Our diplomacy will be as strong when we take a Black person for Minister of Foreign Affairs :)

Cchevymk proposed [mk] a new basketball-inspired country car sticker, using [mk] clipart by Rosie Piter, and DzikiKikiriki refered [mk] to the first Greek reactions, linking to an article in E Kathimerini:

Well now it is not our fault that the Greek Government did not have money to send Greek fans to Lithuania…

Border blockade

The next morning, a group of several dozens angry Greek citizens, who allegedly came on several buses, blocked the main border pass towards Macedonia. Reports [mk] by PlusInfo.mk portal claimed the mob consisted of nationalists (according to the signs they displayed), including neo-Nazis or skinheads.

The Greek police redirected Macedonian travelers to other border crossings for a few hours to prevent confrontations, and the crossing was unblocked [mk] without additional incidents.

Victory over Finland, too

During the afternoon, Macedonia also won the game with Finland, and darko_avr refered to an old internet joke based on famous advertisement (”Nokia - Connecting People”) and a favorite Balkan spirit when he tweeted:

Rakia 72 - Nokia 70

Karakash_MakNBA commented [mk] on this much harder won game:

Either due to fatigue, or due to physical or emotional effect of yesterday's victory, or maybe due to getting wasted last night (who knows), the Macedonian team had a hard time with Finland. Even though they are not as weak and naive a team, as everybody thought so before the match. Especially if they start a good shooting series, they are no joke.

Teams that are hard to define and and play fast basketball, without much boloney, are the hardest opponents.

As both Greece and Finland are EU members, Parmakovski joked [mk]:

After today's blockade of [Evzoni], I'm afraid if we win the championship, EU could forever block us from the [Schengen Area]…

This victory, alongside the previous unexpected win over Croatia and continued good showings could result in participation at least in the quarter-finals, according to the analysеs (1, 2) [mk] by angelov480048.

Kuzevski also provided [mk] some applied analysis:

Let's all jointly support Greece and Croatia, since if they win their next games Macedonia would get 4 points in the next group…

Sead93 concured [mk]:

We survived the Hangover Game well enough, we should all most patriotically root for Greece (because it suits our score in the tournament)…

In conclusion MarjanIvanovski informed [mk] about a unquestionably positive consequence, regardless of nationality:

The neighborhood kids immediately gathered to play some basketball :)). There's no better advertisement and greater motivation than an achieved result…

* Note:

Success of multi-ethnic Macedonian national team runs contrary to the ideology of ethnic nationalism, and the irony seems lost on the Macedonian nationalists, who wholeheartedly partake in the celebrations. Like their other Balkans brothers-in-hate, they often use slogans such as “clean Macedonia,” and value “purity” of assumed genetic lineages. Even though the mainstream Macedonian nationalism is not explicitly racist in the color-of-skin sort of way, some of its propagators lean toward white supremacy, like in the film about God's message to Macedonians [mk] by Niche Dimovski, repeatedly aired on the state TV after the current regime took power. It includes claims that prehistoric Macedonians are progenitors of the “White Race”:

[Voice of God:] “I inhabited your Mother Earth with three races: the White - Makedonoids, the Yellow - Mongoloids, and the Black - Negrids. The rest are all mulattoes. I started the White race from you, the Macedonians, descendants of Macedon, and from you all began, till the Japanese Sea.”

Other nationalist products often refer to a genetics study about “Sub-Saharan” (i.e. recent African) origins of modern Greeks to “prove” that Macedonians are older and more indigenous people.

Still, examples of racial violence have been rare in the recent Macedonian history, possibly because not too many dark-skinned people immigrate to Macedonia on account of its depressed economy. There have been football incidents of racial abuse, though, and a chant mentions “Goce's race.” Most regular citizens would say [mk] that “there's no racism in Macedonia.”

Slovenia: New Twists in Arms Bribery Affaire

Vilhelm Konnander — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 20:35:41 +0000

Sleeping With Pengovsky posts an update about new developments in Slovenia's scandal over bribery in the Patria affaire concerning purchase of Armoured Personnel Carriers from a Finnish company.

Africa: Helsinki Africa Film Festival

Ndesanjo Macha — Sat, 14 May 2011 10:38:53 +0000

Wanjiku wa Ngugi, the founder of the Helsinki African Film Festival talks to Beti Ellerson about the representation of Africa in Finland and this year’s theme “Women’s Voices and Visions”

Video: It Gets Better for Queer Youth

Juliana Rincón Parra — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:56:43 +0000

The It Gets Better Project was started by Dan Savage as a way of preventing gay teens from committing suicide through videos explaining what gay adult life could be: lots better. And from different corners of the world, other people are also sharing their stories.

Dave talks about growing up to a family of religious missionaries in Israel, how he even came to think that exorcism would be a solution to his problems and about his efforts to try and make sense of his faith in regards to his sexual orientation.

From Finland, a group of people share their experiences growing up queer. The video was presented in the TedXHelsinki conference. It is subtitled in Swedish and English:

Bashar Makhay speaks about the process of accepting his identity as a middle eastern gay man, or as he calls himself, a “Gay Chaldean Iraqi American Christian Progressive Man”. Video has English subtitles if you press the cc button:

A gay Muslim youth speaks about growing up in a very religious Shi'a Muslim Pakistani household: how he dealt with harassment, his religious beliefs and his family's take on his his sexuality:

From the Spanish speaking community there are several videos found under the title “Todo va a Mejorar”. One such video was uploaded by
Constantino from Guatemala who currently lives in New York City. He speaks about growing up in a chauvinistic society, his doubts and how just hanging on and following your dreams can go a long way: He is currently living his dream.

As a first generation immigrant from Greece, greekcub tells of the importance of being true to yourself, despite the traditional cultural norms that may seem incompatible with happiness, and at the end, he records a special message for any queer Greek teens going through rough times:

And finally, Kelly Kim explains in ASL how it was for him to grow up being picked on for being deaf and being bullied, afraid for his Korean family's reaction to his sexual identity until he finally decided to come out of the closet. The video is captioned in English:

There are many more videos both on the It Gets Better Project website as well as on YouTube. And hopefully, any teen being bullied because they are different will be able to find support and inspiration in these videos and stories.

Europe: Multilingualism Video Contest

Juliana Rincón Parra — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:20:58 +0000

Polyglot logo

If you live in Europe, are between 18 and 35 years of age and can speak more than one language, then send in a short on multilingualism to an online video contest to win a place aboard an itinerant film making event which will travel and take place in the archipelago of Turku, Finland.

Eighteen winners will have the opportunity to participate in POLYGLOT - on the way to Turku, an all-expenses-paid 2-week “Cine-Boat” itinerant film making workshop taking place on June 2011 in Turku and the Åland Islands of Finland.

This activity is organized by NISI MASA and on the contest website they explain the two types of entry videos they expect to receive before the submission deadline on December 15th 2010:

Video Portraits (Documentaries on My multilingualism) - Do you speak different languages on a regular basis? Describe the linguistic environment you live in, and how it affects you personally.

Video Poems (Fictions on The language I dream in) - Use the audiovisual medium to its full artistic potential. Share with us your most original and creative ideas about language.

Contestants must be resident in a European country (EU or non-EU) and aged 18-35. Works of maximum 5 minutes length, produced since 1st January 2008 are eligible.

Winning videos will be shown during the festival as the city of Turku celebrates being the European Capital of Culture. Afterwards, the shorts will be compiled into a DVD and shown through Europe in follow-up screenings.

All video entries are being uploaded on the Vimeo group for the contest so far there are three: Bubble Affair, Endless Cry and The Whistle, which follows.

Baltics: Any need for Baltic Sea cooperation

Vilhelm Konnander — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:14:32 +0000

Litauen writes about [GER] the Council of the Baltic Sea states and how this organization is becoming increasingly superfluous as basis for Baltic Sea cooperation.

Finland: The Language Issue

Veronica Khokhlova — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:07:33 +0000

Nordic Voices writes about Finland's “language issue.”

The Baltics: Deportations of 1941 and 1949

Veronica Khokhlova — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:43:41 +0000

Eric Dickens guest-blogs at A Step At A Time about the Baltic deportations of 1941 and 1949.

Europe: Entropa

Veronica Khokhlova — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:06:39 +0000

Belatedly, links to some posts on Entropa: Margarete of The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia believes “it should be taken down”; Kosmopolito thinks that “the debate around the project is also part of the installation”; BBC's Mark Mardell writes that “the fact that it is a hoax does not mean that the art itself is bad”; Blue, Black and White Alert doesn't think Entropa is “that incendiary”; A Fistful of Euros considers Entropa “an ugly but really funny piece of work.”

Palestine: UN School Hit By Israeli Shells; More than 40 Killed

Jillian C. York — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:44:28 +0000

At approximately 6:00 p.m. (GMT+2), Al Jazeera English reported that a UN school was hit when two tank shells exploded outside of the school. The school, located in Jabaliya, had been set up days ago as a shelter for Gaza residents who had lost or evacuated their homes. According to Al Jazeera English, more than 40 people were killed. On Al Jazeera English's television station (accessible globally via Livestation.com), it was reported that the IDF had been given GPS coordinates to all UN schools.

The Philistine reported quickly on the incident:

Medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30.

The attack occurred about 10 yards (meters) outside the school in northern Gaza. It was the second deadly Israeli attack to strike a UN school in the past few hours.

Hospital director Bassam Abu Warda confirmed the 30 deaths from the second airstrike.

In both cases, the schools had been used as shelters for people displaced by Israel’s offensive

A top U.N. humanitarian official has condemned the violence and demanded an investigation.

Israel isn’t commenting.

Syria News Wire also reported quickly, stating:

40 people have now died after Israel’s bombing of a UN school in Gaza. 400 Palestinians were being given shelter there by the UN.

Twitter user dominiccampbell, from London, reacted strongly to the news as well:

Finnish Twitter user haloefekti expresses shock at the lack of outcry:

Estonia, Finland, Russia: Relationship Now and Then

Veronica Khokhlova — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:35:49 +0000

A Step At A Time writes in depth about the relationship between Finland, Estonia, and Russia - now and in the past.

Slovenia: Janez Janša and Magnus Berglund

Veronica Khokhlova — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:37:11 +0000

Borut Peterlin thinks that Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund should be awarded “a Slovenian national medal of honor” for making public PM Janez Janša's graft allegations. There's even a Facebook group (with 662 members so far) devoted to Berglund and the story he broke.

Finnish voice on death of Ingushetian publisher

Vilhelm Konnander — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:42:42 +0000

Istori posts a speech by and publishes a statement about the Ingushetian publisher Magomed Yevloev, who was killed by Russian police in the weekend. Together with Anna Politkovskaya, Yevloev - the publisher of closed-down news site ingushetiya.ru - was a frequent guest at the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum.